


Benjiro

by sbuggbot



Category: SteamWorld Quest (Video Game)
Genre: Anxiety Disorder, Emotional support animal, Gen, character introspection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:53:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23454331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sbuggbot/pseuds/sbuggbot
Summary: Benjiro, a Japanese term that roughly means "to satisfy; to answer the purpose of; to make convienent".Galleo has anxiety. But he's got help.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	Benjiro

**Author's Note:**

> I was feeling jittery and anxious and I thought, "huh, I can project this onto Galleo". I always feel like I'm neglecting him in my stories anyway.
> 
> Also I'm pulling the summary from the AMA Image and Form did for Quest just before it came out. (Can you believe it's almost been a year...?

It wasn't clear what had set off Galleo's anxiety. Maybe something so subtle, even he didn't notice it consciously. It didn't matter that much right now, not nearly as much as his present anxiety.

There was no danger, he was simply outside in the village right now. It wasn't even very busy. Nothing bad was happening, there was no need to be so nervous. Of course, when you have an anxiety disorder,  _ knowing _ that the fear is irrational doesn't give you the power to just make it  _ stop _ . 

A heavy tightness in his chest made it hard to breathe. Being a mechanical being, he didn't need to breathe with the same urgency as an organic one. The main things he needed air for was for the fire in his furnace (and even then there were other measures in place) and to speak. Still, not being able to breathe easily was not very pleasant and distressing on its own.

He was definitely shaking. Experimentally holding his hands out for a moment confirmed it. Galleo leaned against the wall to steady himself. It helped with the larger tremors across his body, but he still couldn't get his hands steady. Somehow his arms were both tense and feeling extremely weak and fatigued, and they wished to hang limp as though someone had tied lead around his wrists.

Galleo slid down into a sitting position while resting against the wall, being mindful to not smack or grind the pipe on his back against anything. Doing either of those was painful no matter how good or bad of a mood he was in.

He put his hands in his lap, palms up, which was a cue for the little clockwork bird on his shoulder to hop down and seat himself on Galleo's left hand. Right away Galleo began petting the bird's little head. He didn't even have to think about it. (Which was good, since it becomes difficult to form a coherent thought while anxious.)

Galleo's mother got him this bird, Benji, when he was little, just old enough to start school. That was around the point he started really having a problem when left alone or dropped off somewhere. (Even for something fun!) He reacted so poorly, in fact, that he was homeschooled at first. Eventually he did start going to school, after some desensitization to being places without his mother through summer camp. Making a couple friends during camp helped too--Armilly and Copernica were still his closest friends to this day.

Benji, however, had a massive part in making Galleo's anxiety manageable. Holding the little bird, or even having him nearby, it always calmed him at least somewhat. It's the Benjiro bird's defining trait; being empathetic to its bonded owner's emotions and reacting accordingly. It made them excellent service and emotional support companions.

Galleo switched from petting Benji's head to turning the windup key on his back. It was a funny thing, how well winding the bird up helped him wind down. He wasn't the only one convinced there was some magical component to how Benjiro birds worked their, well, magic.

The tight feeling in his chest faded and his hands finally steadied as Galleo began cooing over Benji. "Yes, you're a good birb…"


End file.
